Perspectives of War
by Youtubeaddict22
Summary: Ch 4: a witch and a muggle connect during the London blitz. Ch 5: Nazi Sympathizers in wizarding world wasn't rare. For as long as there has been man, war has followed closely suit. Despite the separation between the wizarding and muggle world, wars have always affected both. This series of oneshots will follow wizarding individuals through the most historic muggle wars.
1. Assasinations and Beginnings of War

History and Harry Potter, two of my favorite subjects! I've been teaching the WWI and Great Depression unit the past couple of weeks and I kept thinking about how the Harry Potter world might have been affected by it. I highly doubt that events as big as WWI & WWII could have not affected Wizarding England, so I decided to write perspectives from different people in the Wizarding community...some we may know and some I've made up. I hope you enjoy it!

Summary: Peter Haverworth, a half-blood fresh from his last year at Hogwarts comes home to talks of a war coming to the muggle world. Set during World War I.

Chapter 1:

Assassinations and Beginnings of War

June 30th, 1914, Peter Haverworth had finally finished his last year at Hogwarts. He would soon enjoy a short English summer before he was to start his training with the Aurors department.

He said goodbye to his school chums and met his awaiting parents at the 9 3/4 platform of Kings Cross.

As they exited into the muggle section, he could notice the apprehension in the muggles. His mum had not kept him apprised of the muggle world despite the fact they lived in a muggle neighborhood. He heard men discussing the tensions in the east and how they were on the precipice of war.

War frightened Peter. His father was a muggle and had been to war. He remembered the nightmares his father often suffered, the memories of war marring his brain. If a war were to happen, Peter wasn't sure if he wanted to submit himself to such horrors. However, he still saw himself as a loyal British subject, and it was his duty to fight for his country.

July 28th, 1914 arrived and the inevitable happened. Peter was listening to the radio when the news that the assassination of the Austrian Archduke came on. The East had launched into war invading into Serbia, and while England was still remaining as neutral in the conflict, the violence and anger was boiling deep within Europe and soon, Great Britain would be pulled into the conflict.

The days wore on, Peter's resolve was changing. He was beginning to find that he wasn't as keen to start training as an Auror, but instead he wanted to be a soldier like his father, and his grandfather before him. His father's family had a long military legacy which dated back to the American Revolution and part of him wanted to continue that legacy. When August 4th finally arrived, and Britain had entered the war, Peter apparated to the London recruitment office and enlisted in the Royal Army.

His mother had cried when he announced his plans to join. She cried and begged him to stay away from the silly muggle wars. To his surprise, his father wasn't thrilled at the ide either; war had changed so much since he had fought and he was worried about his son's welfare in this modern war. Still, Peter wanted to join the fight.

Three days after enlisting, he was giving his mother a hug goodbye and was off to train.

He was in the trenches two months later, firing heavy machine guns and throwing hand grenades at the enemy. To his surprise, he'd met one other wizard in his battalion; he'd graduated the year before him and had been a Gryffindor. There was word that there were several other men from the wizarding community, who had joined the Allies in the fight against Germany and Austro-Hungary.

War was not the boys game he used to play as a child, that had been very clear when he fired his gun at an enemy for the first time. When shots were fired, they hit someone and killed them, with no way of bringing them back.

The nights and days passed, each day bringing destruction, death, and disease. Private Anderson, his friend since the first day of training, succumbed to gangrene after being hit by shrapnel. The smell of the rot stayed in his nostrils, and Anderson's moans of pain were ingrained into his memory.

One luxury he cherished was letters. They were able to receive letters occasionally, and he cherished those moments dearly. He looked forward to the letters his mother and father sent him, the only reminders of peace he had remaining. His mother spoke often of the war effort from the wizarding community. Many sons had enlisted to prove their duty and loyalty to the British crown, and many mothers like herself had taken up volunteer work in factories or fundraising for the war effort

The Great War had brought two different worlds together; the wizarding and muggle community had never come close to meeting, there were always differences in each life that previously made it impossible. Despite the stark differences in the worlds, they were all subjects of the Royal crown and each mother with a son on the battlefront, had that in common.

When Christmas had arrived, it was a blessing. A ceasefire had been called in the trenches and both sides experienced a little bit of peace. They played football and shared stories and meals in no man's land, and while the stories and the peaceful moment was nice, both sides knew that it wouldn't last. They were enemies with different perspectives that could only be solved in this fashion.

November 11th, 1919 was the day peace finally came. By the time it came, Peter was emotionally and mentally fragile. He'd seen so many of his friends die, sometimes so close he saw the life drain from their eyes. Miraculously, he come away physically unscathed unlike many others. The wizard in his battalion had taken shrapnel to his leg and had to have the infected and rotting limb amputated. Many other men in his battalion had either perished or had lost limbs, eyes, any body part that was able to be destroyed by war.

While he slept on the train on his way home, the flashes of memories jolted him awake. He kept seeing the faces of his dead friends, and the noises of the locomotive mimicked the guns he had fired.

He returned home to the open arms of his mother and father, both happy to see their son alive and safe once again. The Great War, the war to end all wars had finally ended. Peter only wished that nothing else of this nature would ever occur.


	2. In The Eyes of a Child

This one's quite short, but I really wanted to involve Mcgonagall in one of these oneshots. It worked out perfectly since she was born around the beginnings of WWII. I also wanted to include bits from the future as well because it definitely plays an important role.

Summary: Minerva McGonagall is only 4 years old when World War II breaks out, but she can still vividly remember the shouting voice of Adolf Hitler on her family radio.

Chapter 2:

In the Eyes of a Child.

Robert McGonagall sat his four year old daughter on his knee eager to spend time with his daughter. He tuned the radio to a muggle station and listened to the news of the day.

The radio was staticky, but the angry voice of Adolf Hitler sounded clear. Robert didn't speak a lick of German, but he knew that the man spoke only words of hatred and cruelty.

"Robert, not in front of Minerva, she's too young to be hearing that vile man!" Isobel, his wife scolded.

"She won't remember love, she's too young."

"You don't know that. Minnie's clever, and I don't want that voice infiltrating our daughter's brain."

Robert shut off the radio and appeased his wife, but it was too late for Minerva, she had heard the voice of true evil and it now haunted her.

The McGonagall's were lucky that they lived far from Glasgow, with the German Air Raids, they were much safer in the scottish countryside. A five year old Minerva sat in corridor of her home, secretly listening to the radio coming from the living room.

War was frightening to anyone, but through the eyes of a child, it was more disturbing. She listened as the radio spoke about the Kindertransport and refugee children it was bringing over from Germany. She had already met one girl from Germany, her name was Ida and they had played together a few times. Ida had come to Scotland without her mum or dad two years ago. She always looked sad, Minerva thought it was because she missed her mum and dad.

One day, Ida was invited to spend the afternoon with the McGonagall's. While the girls played, Minerva accidentally summoned the radio on, tuning it to play the sounds of Hitler's speech. Ida screamed loudly and began crying at the horrifying sounds.

Isobel ran into the room to find the radio playing and the little girl crying. After turning off the radio, she cuddled Ida close and soothed her until her cries stopped.

"I want Mutti!" She whispered.

"I know love, I know." Isobel soothed.

"Ida, I'm sorry." Minerva apologized. "We can share my mum if you'd like?"

Ida nodded, still in the arms of Isobel.

Later in her life, Minerva Mcgonagall would learn what Hitler spoke of in his speeches and why Ida cried. She didn't know how hatred so great could kill six million people, she only hoped it would never happen again.

Sadly, it did. She recalled hearing Voldemorts speech when he was only beginning his reign of terror; she was instantly brought back to the night in the living room on her father's lap. This wasn't supposed to happen again; they had already endured the Nazi regime and Gellert Grindlewald's 'purification', they should have learned. But they hadn't, there would always be a small group that agreed with doctrines of hate and prejudice, and the only way to stop it was to fight.

"Do you remember the war?" She asked Albus.

"Which one?"

"The second world war."

"I remember it as if it were yesterday. Both muggle and wizard alike suffered greatly during that time...I recall Hogwarts having to take in several German students that had escaped the Nazi regime."

"I was only a child then, but I can still remember the voice of Adolf Hitler."

"How evil so great could manifest itself into one Muggle man is frightening."

"And it's happening again."

"It is, I'm afraid. Once Hitler was dead and the war was over, I hoped that man would never have to face such horrors again."

"Did you see…" She began before stopping her question.

However, Albus Dumbledore was clever and knew what she wanted to say.

"I visited Auschwitz last month. I wanted to remind myself why we're fighting and what we need to prevent. If Voldemort succeeds, I'm certain we'll see similar places to the death camps."

Like I said, it's short. I thought the end bit was really important because it kind of speaks to what is currently happening. I remember watching a WWII documentary and I remember seeing a Jewish man speaking about when he'd first heard Hitler's speech. He had mentioned that he along with others thought that Hitler would never reach out far and gain power...people were smart and educated and the hateful speech could never catch on, however it did. I found myself saying the same thing when Donald Trump would say hateful and uneducated things about muslims and immigrants. 'This man is crazy, he'll never be pular.' 'A man called Hitler said the same exact thing about the Jewish community...people are too smart to follow his words.' And yet, people are. I feel that there are always going to be a percentage of people who still hold hate and prejudice against people with different religions or backgrounds; and when someone with power encourages the hate and openly speaks with a hateful rhetoric, it'll bring more hate and prejudice because people feel that it's an okay thing to do.


	3. The Nurse and The Soldier

(Summary: Melina Herald is an 18 year old pureblood living in wizarding London. She works as a trainee healer at St. Mungos through World War II and the London Blitz.)

 **Chapter 3:**

 **The Nurse and The Soldier**

The sirens rang once more. Another German air raid would soon occur; Melina Herald tightened her cloak and quickened her pace to the Leaky Cauldron, wanting to avoid the bombs.

Before the war, she'd always thought that the wizarding world and muggle world would remain separate. However, even at the very beginning the war broke down the walls. A couple of her former classmates had enlisted in the Royal Air Force as well as the army; Her colleague had lost her fiance only weeks after he'd proposed.

"Miss, you need to find shelter soon!" A muggle man wearing a military uniform warned.

"I'm on my way, I promise."

"There's no time, the damned nazi's will be here soon. Come, there's a bomb shelter nearby."

Reluctantly, she followed him behind a building which lead to an underground shelter.

Entering, she found it already packed with others. There were a few women and older men. No children as usual. They had evacuated the children of London to the countryside even the children of the wizarding world. Babies and toddlers too young to be separated from their mothers remained, but there were no children to run around London; she missed seeing and hearing children, but they were safer in the country then they were here.

The first bomb made her jump; they always did.

"My name is James." He introduced.

"Melina." She replied shaking his hand.

"Are you a nurse?" He asked noticing her uniform.

"I'm a student nurse." She replied. "How about yourself? You're in the military..."

"I am. I'm in the Royal Air Force." He sighed and looked at his watch. "Midnight and it'll be the 11th of November...Armistice day."

She understood the sadness in his voice. The Great War had been a tragedy to all of Europe, muggle and wizarding alike. It was called the war to end all wars, but here they were once again fighting another war.

"My Dad fought in the trenches during the Great War. He thought he was fighting to end any other conflicts, but he was wrong...everyone was wrong."

She nodded in agreement. Her mum had told her stories about the war and the years following. Her mother had lost many friends and school mates to the war and it felt like now she was living just as her mother had. She remembered her mum pleading her to stay in Kent where she would be safe, but Melina was persistent in her want to become a healer. After passing her N.E.W.T.s she apparated to London and found a small flat in Diagon Alley.

"Perhaps this war will be the last..." She whispered.

"It's a nice thought innit? No, this won't be the last war. S'long as there's humans there'll always be wars."

The bombs kept falling, but surprisingly she'd fallen asleep.

* * *

She felt a shaking at her shoulder.

"Melina...hey Melina, wake up."

She slowly opened her eyes and noticed that she'd fallen asleep on James' shoulder.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

"A beautiful girl falling asleep on my shoulder could never be an offense." He replied. "It's over, we're safe."

He helped her out of the shelter and held her hand as they walked through the debris.

"Will you make it home safe?" He asked.

She nodded. "I was only a few minutes away when the sirens rang."

"Well then, would you like me to walk you?"

She blushed, but nodded. Muggles could never see the Leaky Cauldron, however it was nearby other flats and shops so she could easily fib.

The rubble and debris was scattered through the streets. This raid hadn't been as bad as previous ones; she hadn't seen any crumbling buildings nor any injured people. But they were still under the darkness of the early morning; perhaps when the sun was out in the sky, they'd be able to see the true damage done.

"It was pleasure meeting you Miss. Melina." He said as they arrived to the shop before the Leaky Cauldron. "It would have been nice if it were under different circumstances."

"It was a pleasure meeting you as well."

"Miss. Melina, would it be alright if I call on you?" James suddenly asked.

She paused for a minute. While James was handsome and polite, he was still was a muggle; but it wasn't as if he'd asked for her hand in marriage, and she'd get to experience a little of the muggle world at the same time.

"I'd like that."

"Thank you." He gave her a warm smile. "Would you like to meet next week?"

She nodded and they planned their next meet.

James Prewett smiled as he watched the young nurse walk away. Who'd have known that during an air raid, he would meet such a beautiful woman. He continued watching her walk and was pleasantly surprised when he saw her walk into the Leaky Cauldron. She wasn't a muggle at all, she was magical just like he was. Perhaps this was meant to be.

Prewett...now that's a familiar name isn't it? Could this be Molly Weasley's family member?

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this little story. I really am enjoying writing these. Who know perhaps in the future I'll write some historical fiction novel since I love writing about history so much!


	4. Family History

(Summary: Sirius Black was only 8 years old when he'd learned about the Nazi's from his parents. At 12 years old, he learned even more and what he learned changed his mind and outlook on his family's views.)

 **Chapter 4:**

 **Family History**

Sirius Black was eight years old when he first learned his parents were Nazi sympathizers. Back then he'd been young and hadn't really known what it meant; his parents had mentioned that the Nazis and Hitler wanted to preserve the purity in Germany and for him that seemed to align with what his parents believed.

It was when he arrived to Hogwarts that he realized that his parents agreed with the vile acts that took place in Europe not very long ago. He'd heard his classmate Noah speaking to a friend; his father had been a survivor of Buna, his grandparents and several relatives never making it home. Noah's mother was also a Polish Jew, but had managed to avoid the concentration camp because of her Aryan features. He skipped going home for Christmas the following year and instead had gone home with Noah to celebrate Hanukkah.

The celebration had been breathtaking. The tradition and story behind the eight-day celebration warmed his heart and made him rethink his parents beliefs. When he asked Noah's father Eli about the numbers on his arms, Eli had explained what they meant.

"I didn't have a name." Eli spoke. "To them I was only a number, just another nameless, faceless, number that could be sent off to the gas chambers to kill."

Eli then told him of the fear and hatred that Hitler had instilled into the population and how when he was only a boy, his family had been forcibly removed from their home in Poland and forced to live in a ghetto. Food was scarce and quarters were close; many of his childhood friends hadn't even made it out of the ghetto and died of starvation there.

Sirius hadn't realized it, but there were tears in his eyes. Knowing that only one man built up a nation of fear and hate and nearly decimated an entire religious group, was terrifying; but the knowledge of a man losing his family and his friends to such hatred broke his heart.

That year had changed him; when he returned home to his parents that summer, he questioned his mother about how they could support such a revolting act.

"That is no revolting act. That filthy population were only after money and greed. It was up to Hitler to save Germany and Europe from them. I say it's a shame that Britain, America, and the Soviets had to intervene..."

"What's revolting is that you could support a man so evil!" Sirius had shouted before stomping up to his room.

The Blacks would being to call that the descent of Sirius Black. He'd turned away his family's beliefs and had aligned himself with filthy half-bloods and mudbloods and Jews. That boy was a disgrace.

* * *

Returning to his childhood home was hell for Sirius. Remembering the fights and arguments and the despicable people that were his family tormented him.

It wasn't until one night when his dear cousin Nymphadora had brought up the conversation that he'd admitted to his family's history.

"You know what's strange..." She began as they sat at the table after dinner. "That not long ago, we were fighting the same war...except that time it was a muggle war."

"You're talking about World War II aren't you?" Hermione asked.

Tonks nodded. "My granddad on my father's side fought in the war; he was at the liberation of Auschwitz...It's crazy to think that only decades later we're fighting against a group with similar ideals..."

"When we promised it would never happen again..." Hermione finished.

Molly sighed sadly. "My father fought in the war. He was in the RAF, and met my mum during the London blitz." She shared. "They were so angry when you-know-who took power the first time. They'd said it was Hitler all over again. I don't know what they'd say if they were alive now."

"This is why we need to learn about history both muggle and wizarding; If we keep ourselves in the dark about our history, we'll only repeat our mistakes." Remus added. "You know, I visited Auschwitz a few years back. It's a haunting place...all the souls that perished there all because of fear and hate."

"Did you see the..." Ron began, but never finishing due to the sensitivity of the topic.

"The gassing chambers? I didn't. Walking through the barracks had been enough for me, but seeing where millions of men, women, and children were sent to their deaths, that was too much."

"The Blacks were sympathizers." Sirius finally spoke. "It's not very surprising though; If they supported blood purity in the wizarding world, why wouldn't they support the Nazi's?"

"Mum never mentioned it..." Tonks interrupted.

"Of course she wouldn't, It was our shame. Knowing that our family supported that fascist is something we never wanted to admit." He replied. "I had a friend in school, Noah...you remember Noah Moony?"

Remus nodded. "Nice bloke. I still occasionally speak to him."

"Noah was the first Jewish boy I'd ever met. We'd become good friends by the time Christmas came around and he'd invited me to his house for Hanukkah over the holiday. His father was a survivor of the holocaust and I remember talking to him about what he experienced and knowing that I could never support such hatred ever in my life."

"It really does make you think...just like Tonks said." Hermione agreed.

"We can only hope that this never happens again." Arthur sighed.

"As long as there's humans, there'll always be war." Molly replied.

"It's like Professor Lupin said, the best we can do is keep ourselves and future generations educated. If we do, we'll help prevent this type of war." Hermione added.

Did anyone catch what Molly said? Yep, James and Melina from the last chapter were indeed Molly's parents. Also, I felt that the Black Family would have been Nazi Sympathizers...it's not too far of a reach since they were really pushing for blood purity. I feel that several of Grindelwald and Voldemort followers were also probably Nazi Sympathizers.


End file.
